Personal mortification over possibly going into heat kept Kell locked in his bedroom for the rest of the day and night. He came out to use the bathroom and to accept the food Ronin prepared for him. The room had a small television he’d found gathering dust in the closet, so he set that up for entertainment, but spent most of his time brooding.

Brooding, because those few days before a heat began were always the happiest times in the Iverson house. Faced with another chance to impregnate his mate, Krause was kind, courteous, and he made sure Cook prepared all of what Krause thought were Kell’s favorite foods. Kell was treated like had value during those days, instead of simply being a hole to fuck. And every once in a while, Kell was able to forget Krause’s cruelty and pretend he had a kind, caring mate after all.

Those days had seriously fucked with his head.

He slept peacefully that night, in two four-hour bursts, only waking because of terrible dreams he couldn’t remember. Never could remember his nightmares, only the dread and fear that lingered afterward. An instinctive part of his mind longed for Ronin to comfort him, but calling for his alpha—no, stop it, your alpha is dead—calling for Ronin was a very bad idea.

Ronin was still in his room, likely asleep, when Kell dashed into the bathroom for a morning shower. The bathroom didn’t have a lock at all, not even one of those knob button locks, and it took several minutes of pep talks for Kell to shed his clothes. He showered quickly, washing the very last of the jail smells down the drain and replacing it with a nice, aloe-scented soap.

It wasn’t until he’d dried off and tied a towel around his waist to comb his hair that he realized he hadn’t brought any clean clothes to dress in. His bedroom door was four steps from the bathroom door, but what if Ronin was awake and in the living room? The sight of his pale, scarred chest wouldn’t send Ronin into a sexual frenzy, but he did worry what Ronin might make of the visible marks on his chest and torso.

Krause had been fond of his leather belts.

Not willing to chance it, Kell draped a second towel over his shoulders before leaving the bathroom. Ronin’s bedroom door stood open, so Kell bolted into his own room and shut the door. His fingers trembled as he dressed, but not with fear as much as embarrassment about the state of his body. Used, abused, scarred, and horribly skinny. Nothing like the young man he’d been when he first mated with Krause.

I need to eat more, exercise, regain my strength.

Ronin knocked. “I have breakfast for you.”

Humbled by Ronin’s constant thoughtfulness and attention, Kell opened the door he hadn’t even thought to lock. Ronin was sleep-rumpled, his black hair a curly mess on one side, and he smelled mouth-watering. Even more so than the plate of steak and eggs he was holding in one hand, juice in the other.

“Thank you for this,” Kell said.

“How did you sleep?”

“Better than I have in a long time.”

“Good. I have a doctor coming to see you this morning. He’s someone Tarek trusts, and he’s been given access to your medical records.”

“All right. I’ll, um, be in here when he arrives.”

If Ronin was disappointed by their continued distance, he didn’t show it. He simply handed over the food and drink, and then left. Kell elbowed the door shut, then returned to his bed to eat. The food smelled amazing, and he kind of wanted to demand a second steak before he’d even tasted it, but they still had to watch his portions so he didn’t glut himself and get sick.

After his exam, if the doctor pronounced him healthy enough to endure heat, Kell would need to make a plan. He couldn’t stay here, cramped up with Ronin, but he had nowhere else to go. Unless Tarek and Braun took him in, but it was his understanding that they lived in a single-bedroom cottage. Nowhere to hide an omega in heat.

Maybe Ronin could hire a beta nurse to watch him and feed him during the heat. Betas didn’t react at all to an omega’s pheromones and wouldn’t be inclined to try and fuck him.

And if they did, Ronin would probably rip their spine out.

No, not probably. He would.

Kell didn’t want to admit that they’d bonded, so Ronin’s desire for him would more than quadruple during heat. The need to fuck Kell would overwhelm him, and he’d do something they’d both regret. So Kell needed to make sure they were nowhere near each other for the next few days.

The idea of not being close to Ronin made his stomach cramp and he didn’t eat much. Mostly the eggs and a bite of steak, but it tasted off, as per usual this close to a heat. Food began to taste weird for an omega, which was their body’s way of telling them not to eat, so his lower region could prepare for knotting and possible pregnancy.

He put the plate and cup on the dresser, and then curled around a pillow on the bed, restless and tired all at once. He dozed without actually sleeping, until Ronin knocked at the door again.

“Come in,” Kell said. His back was to the door, so he rolled over.

Ronin stood in the doorway, with a stranger behind him. Most doctors were alphas, but those who specialized in omega care were always betas. “Dr. Troi is here,” Ronin said. “He won’t hurt you, Kell, I promise.”

“Okay.” Kell sat up, his gaze never wavering as Dr. Troi entered the room with a leather medical bag in one hand.

He shut the door to give them privacy. “Good morning, Mr. Kell,” Dr. Troi said. He had a friendly smile, a lot of gray in his dark hair, and a bit of extra weight around the middle that strained his button-up shirt.

“Hi.”

Dr. Troi put the bag on the dresser and opened it. “Ronin says you’re going into your first heat since a very difficult birth.”

“Yes, sir.”

“After taking a look at your medical records, he’s right to be concerned. This is a bit untraditional, given we don’t have a proper examination table, but we’ll make do, won’t we?”

Kell nodded. He hated these exams, his ass up and open for the world to see. But not having his legs strapped to a table would help him feel less trapped. And Ronin was right outside. He’d come if Kell yelled for him. Kell removed his slacks and underwear without being prompted.

Since the bed was the only good place to do this, he got on all fours, and then presented himself for the doctor’s examination.

Ronin listened with his ear to the door, hating that Kell was in the room with a stranger—even if he came highly recommended and was extremely discreet. A stranger was touching his omega in an intimate way. Doctor or not, Ronin didn’t like it. So he listened, wary of any unpleasant sounds from Kell, but mostly he heard muffled voices talking. No signs of pain or distress. The bed creaking disturbed him, but there really wasn’t anywhere else to conduct an exam.

It didn’t stop Ronin from wanting to be in that room.

“You don’t have to hover, Ronin,” Kell shouted at one point. “I can smell you.”

Ronin chuckled. “Sorry. Instinct.”

“I know, but it’s stressing me out.”

“Then I’ll go.”

He walked to the balcony and stared out through the glass doors at this unfamiliar province. Not so different than his own, but this was a crossroads province, used for shipping goods to other parts of the territory, and it didn’t offer much in the way of well-paying jobs. Ronin saw it in the extensive poor parts of town and the high crime rate. He’d much rather take Kell home than remain here, but if Kell didn’t want to leave Braun, Ronin would stay.

I’m already uprooting my life for him.

Ronin wanted his life to be with Kell. Period. But what if the courts took him away? They’d both be shattered, and Kell would be left vulnerable to all manner of predators.

No. He isn’t going to prison. I’ll do anything to make sure that doesn’t happen.

He glared out at the skyline, knowing twelve betas living and working today would, one day soon, be in a courtroom to decide Kell’s fate.

The exam took longer than Ronin anticipated, and he nearly jumped out of his skin when the bedroom door opened. Dr. Troi exited alone and shut the door behind him.

“Well?” Ronin asked.

Dr. Troi shook his head. “In my professional opinion, he is too stressed out from being arrested, and far too malnourished to endure a heat right now. It would only further damage his body and his mental state.”

Ronin’s relief at giving Kell a respite warred with his alpha desire to mate with his omega. He told his inner alpha to shut the fuck up. “So you’ll prescribe the heat block?”

“Yes. I’ve already given him the tablets. They should take effect within the hour, and then his pheromone levels will fall back to normal.”

“How long does it last?” Ronin had no experience with those particular suppressants. Mated alphas in certain professions took a dose weekly. Or, if they were unmated in those professions, they could use a longer-lasting suppressant that was inserted under the skin.

“It will last for about a month before the heat returns,” Dr. Troi replied. “At that time, I’ll re-evaluate his health and see if a second dose is necessary, or if he’s physically capable of withstanding the heat.”

“We may be in the middle of a trial when that happens.”

“Then you’ll have to appeal to the judge for an extended recess. I won’t delay an omega’s heat for a trial, Mr. Cross, but I will delay it if I feel the omega’s body simply can’t handle the stress of heat, and if the possibility of pregnancy could be life-threatening. Mr. Kell fits both of those categories.”

“I understand.” The prosecution would shit bricks over a three-day recess for heat, but it was a biological process that shouldn’t be put off, except in extreme cases. And it was also possible Dr. Troi would prescribe the block again, and the trial would continue as normal. “I want to do what’s best for Kell.”

“I can see that.” Dr. Troi handed him a business card. “If you have any questions, or if Mr. Kell begins to exhibit unusual symptoms, call me right away. Some omegas have an adverse reaction to the heat block.”

“I will, I appreciate it.”

He saw the doctor out, and then turned to find Kell standing in his open bedroom doorway. Kell was chewing on his bottom lip, and his cheeks were flushed.

“I know he said it could take an hour to kick in,” Kell said, “but I already feel different. Less achy down there. More clearheaded.”

“Good, I’m glad.”

“Me too. I know I couldn’t have handled a heat right now, and I’m glad Dr. Troi was sympathetic. Some doctors don’t care about an omega’s health and see heat as a biological imperative, even if it could be damaging to me.” Kell scowled, and his voice rose by the end of his mini-rant. “All Krause ever cared about was impregnating me. I swear, this past year he spent three-quarters of every heat inside me, either knotted or fucking to a knot. Even when I wasn’t in a hormone surge, he went at me.”

Ronin held himself perfectly still, when all he wanted to do was growl and rage at how his omega had been treated by another alpha. An alpha Kell admitted he’d never bonded with, and who’d seen his precious Kell as a means to an end, instead of the incredible person Ronin had the pleasure to know.

But behind the rage sprang a bloom of pride at Kell’s statements, because he was angry, too. Angry at his own treatment, rather than resigned to it. Angry at the alpha who should have taken care of him, but had relentlessly abused him, instead.

“Krause is a worthless piece of garbage whose body will be laid to waste soon enough,” Ronin replied. “He didn’t deserve to lick your shoe, much less mate with you.”

Kell’s lips twitched into something close to a smile. “Thank you. And I suppose now that my heat is taken care of, today is going to be another work day?”

“It is. We both needed the break yesterday, you especially, but we need to be properly prepared for the trial. Once we’ve finished going over your story, I need to start preparing our defense witnesses.”

“Anything from Scully yet?”

“No, so I’ll have to formally file a subpoena to make sure he appears in court. Even if Senior Iverson paid him to keep quiet, he has to be sworn in, no matter what he actually says on record.”

“I hate the idea of forcing anyone associated with the Iversons to do anything.”

“I understand that, but I’m going to do whatever it takes to get you a not-guilty verdict, even if it means subpoenaing a housekeeper.”

“Okay.” Kell sat on the sofa. “Let’s get started.”

* * *

After five hours of listening to Kell talk and taking abundant notes, Ronin needed out of that apartment. He needed to separate himself from Kell’s words and take his aggression out on something else, before he exploded with a kind of blind rage he’d never felt before. The things Krause had done…and had allowed to be done to Kell….

White. Hot. Rage.

So he changed into sweats and went downstairs to the building’s resident gym. A treadmill wasn’t going to cut it, so Ronin went with one of the press benches and started working with the weights. Every time he pushed the weight bar up, he imagined he was punching Krause in the face. In the throat. In the balls. In the stomach.

Punch. Punch. Punch. Punch. Punch.

“Damn, dude, what’s his name?” a stranger’s voice asked.

Ronin ignored him in favor of mentally punching Krause in the dick.

“Seriously, if you don’t slow down, you’re going to hurt yourself.” An upside-down face appeared behind his head, and two hands grabbed the weight bar. Ronin allowed the stranger to settle the weights, because his arms felt like rubber now that he’d stopped.

Ronin panted a bit, and then a towel landed on his face. Growling, he ripped it away and sat up, intending to rip the annoying stranger a new hole—except he couldn’t find any anger for the smiling face watching him from a safe distance.

“Thanks,” Ronin said. The gym reeked of sweat but he still detected the man’s scent. Mated alpha. Not an immediate threat.

“You have a fight with your omega?” the man asked.

“No. Nothing like that.” Ronin dabbed at his damp neck with the towel. “Long story, not getting into it.”

“I get it. Name’s Jin Moran.”

Ronin shook his extended hand, debating giving a fake name, but these were temporary apartments, and it was unlikely he’d run across the man again. “Ronin Cross.”

“Nice to meet you. In town on business?”

“Yes, actually. You?”

“Same. I miss my omegin like crazy, but he’s home with our two boys.” Jin grinned, probably over the memory of the family he’d left behind. “How about yourself?”

“Like I said, long story.”

“Okay, I can take a hint. You don’t want to talk about it.”

“Exactly.” Parts of that very long story flashed in Ronin’s mind, and the white rage returned. No amount of exercise was going to fix it. He simply had to work through the anger.

“If I can offer some unsolicited advice,” Jin said, “talk to someone about whatever’s eating at you. You look like you could do someone serious damage right now.”

“I could, but the person I want to damage is already dead.”

“Lucky for him, I suppose.”

Ronin grunted. “Lucky for me, because I’d have killed him dead, and then I’d be in jail for his murder.”

Like my omega currently is.

“I’m intrigued,” Jin said. “But not going to pry, because it’s clearly a sore subject. How long are you in town for?”

“Not sure.” Forever, if necessary. He’d do anything Kell wanted, go anywhere he chose—if Kell ever actually accepted him into his life as anything other than a friend. “You?”

“I’m on the second week of my six-week stay. The Sansbury constabulary is adding a new DNA testing department to its forensics division, and I’m here to teach the lab techs how to properly test and match samples. DNA is quickly changing the way evidence is handled and used in court cases. Some of the old-school lawyers think it’s nonsense, but all the research shows it’s the wave of the future.”

Jin spoke like a man who loved his job, and he probably did. Ronin’s own constabulary had begun using DNA as evidence over a year ago, as more and more studies showed it to be accurate in establishing if someone had or had not come into contact with a person or object. So much better than simply relying on fingerprints and eye-witness testimony.

“How long do think it will be before the constabulary starts processing DNA for new cases?” Ronin asked.

“We’re actively testing now using old cases that are closed, so no one fucks up any evidence. It’ll be at least another month before they can accurately begin using it on active cases.”

Far too late to worry about it being used in Kell’s case. Although it wouldn’t make much difference if the prosecution did use it, because Kell’s DNA was all over that house.

“Having this kind of lab set up will also help this constabulary’s backlog of unsolved rapes and murders,” Jin went on. “They have the evidence, now they have the ability to do something useful with it. One of the lab techs I work with was telling me about a sex trafficking ring they busted and the beta teens they rescued. The new equipment will be a huge boost to their case and in helping them prosecute the men involved.”

“We heard about that case where I’m from,” Ronin said. “It was pretty big news.”

Tarek had been involved in the case and had been there when they found the missing beta teenagers. Ronin couldn’t image stumbling into a place like that, where young men were strapped down and presented as faceless holes to fuck for a fee. He blindly hoped all the rapists were tracked down and tossed into prison, even though common sense said that was unlikely to happen. Even with the DNA collected off the boys, you needed someone else’s to match it to.

“Well, good luck with your work,” Ronin said. “It sounds as though it will be highly beneficial.”

“Thank you. Good luck with, well, your problem and job.”

“Appreciate it.”

Ronin dropped the towel into the laundry bin on his way out of the gym. Sweaty and sore, he desperately needed a shower, but that was almost too relaxing, and he still had an overabundance of rage to work off. He also didn’t want to leave Kell alone for too long, so he went back up to their apartment.

Our apartment. It sounds so domestic and perfect.

Kell was out on the balcony, leaning against the railing, his face tipped up toward the late afternoon sunshine. He didn’t react to Ronin joining him there, propped up on his elbows. Ronin wasn’t very fond of heights, but they did have a nice view.

“I’m sorry you got angry,” Kell whispered, eyes still shut against the sun.

“It is absolutely not your fault. You needed to tell me those things, and I needed to hear them. But Kell…it’s unbelievable.”

“It kind of is, which is why I’ve never told anyone else about it. Not even Braun.”

Ronin curled his fingers into tight fists. “I don’t care what your gender is, no one should be…treated that way.” He couldn’t even say the words; he didn’t want to think them again, much less have Kell repeat it all in an open courtroom.

But they had to. Every possible motive Kell had for his mind to snap out of reality and go into survival mode was tangled up in those words. In the actions of those men.

They aren’t men. They’re worse than excrement.

“I’m finally starting to believe you when you say that,” Kell replied. He opened his eyes and tilted his head in Ronin’s direction. Pretty green eyes that sparkled in the sunlight. No longer dull like when they’d first met. “That I didn’t deserve any of it. That I should have had a decent life, instead of three years of hell.”

“I’m glad you’re starting to believe me.” Ronin couldn’t resist the urge to touch Kell, so he placed one palm on the back of Kell’s neck.

Kell’s eyelids fluttered, and he pressed into the touch of an alpha trying to comfort his omega. “I hate that Braun is going to find out everything that was done to me.”

“I know, but it’s necessary. The whole world is going to know what a sick, sadistic family the Iversons are.”

“Oh. Oh!” Kell paled so quickly that Ronin put an arm around his waist right away, fearing another fainting spell.

“What’s wrong?”

“It just hit me.” Kell clutched at his arm, fear flashing in his eyes now. “Senior Iverson never would have let this go to trial. I know now. He would have found a way to have me killed in jail, so I didn’t open my mouth about what he and Krause did.”

“So you couldn’t smear his family?” A tremor of anxiety raced through Ronin’s gut—an altogether unfamiliar feeling. “Shit. We need to be even more careful about who knows you’re here. And I’ll arrange for protection when we have to go to the court building for trial. I won’t let them get to you, Kell.”

Kell trembled, so Ronin did the only thing he could think of: he tilted Kell’s head back and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. Kell stilled instantly, and instead of tensing or pushing back, he went limp in Ronin’s arms. Ronin held him closer, but kept the kiss chaste and sweet, only the softest of movements against delicate flesh. When Kell’s plump mouth moved against his, Ronin pulled back.

Instead of startled, Kell looked confused. “Why did you do that?”

Ronin scrambled for a reason that made more sense than I had to. “I’ve made you so many verbal promises, Kell,” he said. “Saying ‘I promise’ again didn’t feel like enough.”

“So you sealed it with a kiss?”

“Yes?”

Kell laughed. “You don’t sound very confident in your answer.”

“You seem more confident, though. Two days here and you’re a different person.”

“It’s amazing what fresh air and lack of immediate fear for your life can do to your mood.” Kell lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Plus, I think the heat block has a mood stimulant in it. And knowing my heat won’t be an issue for another month shot down yet one more thing I’ve been stressing over.”

“I’m glad.” Kell’s slim body felt so right against Ronin’s broader, muscled frame, and Kell was making no move to pull away, so Ronin held on. He rubbed gentle circles on Kell’s back that made Kell’s eyelids flutter. Arousal stirred in Ronin’s groin, and he tried to fight it so he didn’t scare Kell, but it was no use.

As his cock swelled against Kell’s hip, Kell held on tighter, resting his cheek against Ronin’s shoulder. Something had freed much of Kell’s previous fear of contact. Maybe purging his soul to Ronin today had also purged him of his fear that every alpha was out to hurt him. Maybe he really did believe Ronin could be trusted in every possible way.

“This is nice,” Kell whispered.

“Yes, it is.” Ronin’s left hand kept circling, while his right squeezed the back of Kell’s neck. “I like you here. In my arms. Too much, I think.”

“Why too much?”

“I’m your lawyer. It’s inappropriate.”

“You’re also my friend. That’s not inappropriate. And this feels good.” Kell clutched at the front of his shirt. “It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this good.”

Ronin’s chest burned with the need to make Kell feel good, make him safe, always. “Then we’ll stand here as long as you need, little one. As long as you need.”

And they did.